Leadership has different meanings to different people but my favorite definition is the following:

"Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal."

My hope is that we all learn to embrace leadership in a way that pushes us to our maximum potential. __________If you want to become a leader, don’t wait. Start to act, think, and communicate like the leader you want to be today. It doesn’t matter if you feel like you’re not mentally there. Commit to action by doing these three things. I call them the triangle of leadership.____________Be a problem solver: Start with yourself and look at the problems you have faced in the past. What did you learn from those experiences? Codify your experiences into frameworks and then start to look for themes and trends that correlated to your success and failure in the past. This allows you to practice the courage needed to stand up for others because you’ll be operating from memory and experience. When you operate from what you know, you become more confident. This will also allow you to practice the art of seeing more possibilities. _______________Be a connector: Other than being a problem solver, leaders need to be able to put what I call “people puzzles” together. Essentially, who in your network can you connect to someone else right now? Got that person in mind? Now make the connection. Make sure these connections provides value for all parties involved. This allows you to practice having vision and foresight. _______________Build a community: So you’ve become good at identifying problems, sharing solutions and connecting people. The next thing you need to do is to learn how to build communities. Create a Facebook group, mastermind group or membership platform that creates opportunities to discuss common interests and share insights related to your interests. This gives you a broader view of the world, your interests and your industry by exposing you to multiple perspectives. Wider perspectives lead to more inclusive and strategic ideas. ___________Comment below if you’re ready to step up.

Tayo Rockson is an avid lover of sports, marketing and non profit who loves helping and meeting new people. This blog is a refection of all he has learned. You can reach him at tayorockson@yahoo.co.uk or on Twitter at @TayoRockson.